'456 On some Plants frum the Kingdom of Nepdl. 



that valuable work of needless synonyms, owing to the want of 

 ordinary precaution as to what previous botanists had already 

 named. 



" Uinbclliforous plant with root resembling Atliamanta Meum, 

 and when fresh, an uneommonly fragrant smell" (p. 98). Very 

 probably the well-known Chora, Amjel'ica ijlancn of Mr. Edge- 

 worth, iibmulant at 9000 to 10,000 feet (and whieh I take to be 

 the aromatic Gertheon or Certheana of Assam, a compound of 

 Valeriana and Pastinaca, Griffith, Journals, 37, 57 ; and J. A. 

 Soc. Beng. 1837, 331,335). Two thousand feet higher flourishes 

 the Ilushial, also very aromatic, which I believe to be Hymeno- 

 leena angelicuides, DC. Prod. iv. 245 ; as well as Hymenidium 

 Brunonis, Nesir or Lesir* of the mountaineers, a very fragrant 

 ])lant. 



Bliutkcs: Bhutkcsar, pp. 86, 98. "A thick woody root, on 

 the top of which were many stiff bristles, and from among these 

 the young leaves were shooting." These Dr. Hamilton thought 

 belonged to Thalidrum, and Dr. Royle (Illustr. p. 69) refers 

 Bhutkes to Corydalis Govaniann; but it is actually the root of 

 Oreocome fdicifolia and data of i\lr. Edgeworth (Linn. Trans. 

 184r5), esj)eeially the former. This is probably identical with 

 Selinum Candollii [Peuccdanum IVallichianum, DC. Prod. iv. 

 181; Selinum tenui/olium,'Wn\\.) and Pleurospermum cicutarium, 

 Royle, Illustr. Don's three species of Atliamanta, Prod. 184-5, 

 described in accordance with the signification of Bhutkes, seem 

 to belong to Oreocome. Both the above plants, and one or two 

 species of Cortia, growing at great elevations (14,000 to 15,000 

 feet), are well known all over the Himalaya by Dr. Hamilton's 

 names, which signify ' hair of the spectre,' against which they 

 are worn as charms. They are often called simply Kes, 'hair,' 

 for the same reason as the Jatamansi. With the medicinal root 

 Bhutkes, Dr. Hamilton mentions another, called Jainti, which 

 he refers to an Orchid growing among moss on large stones, on 

 the higher mountains. Caloyyne prcecox is so described on his 

 authority in Don's Prodromus, p. 37. " Brim" (p. 100) is another 



* Dr. Hoffineistcr has pointed out the rcsLmblance of this name and 

 plant to the Laserpi/ium (Lesir-patij of the Romans, the Silphium of the 

 Greeks, which the liistorians of Alexander inform us that liis army found 

 in Affrhanistan. Tlie Greeks of Cyrenaica represented the jdant (Tfiapsia 

 Silphium of Viviani, I-'lor. Lib., or Thupsia (jnrgavica, Desfontaincs) on 

 their coins still extant; and Phny (N. H. xix. 15 ; xxii. 4!i) paints in high 

 colours the virtues of its gum-resin. Laser Cyrennicum, as a medicine and 

 perfume. The celebrated drug, Asa dulcis of Gyrene, recalls the Assa- 

 foetida of Persia, as well as a kind of incense from the Himalaya, called 

 Aa4 puri (i. e. ' the fulfiller of hope'), of which the Nepakse told me won- 

 derful virtues. 



